Case Digest on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization et al.

The Constitution does not provide the right to abortion.

This case on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization et al. decided in 2022 overrules the landmark Decision of the Court in Roe and Casey. Check out this two-minute case digest by Audio Law Reader.🎧📚

FACTS OF THE CASE:

The Gestational Age Act of Mississippi prohibits abortions past fifteen weeks' gestation, except for emergencies or severe fetal abnormalities.

Respondents – Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an abortion clinic, and one of its doctors – challenged the Act in Federal District Court, alleging that it violated the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania. v. Casey.

The District Court ruled for the respondents, and permanently enjoined the enforcement of the Act because the Mississippi's 15-week abortion restriction violates previously-ruled cases of the Supreme Court forbidding States to ban abortion pre-viability.

The Fifth Circuit upheld the decision of the District Court. Thus, petitioners defend the Act on the grounds that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and that the Act is constitutional.

ISSUE OF THE CASE:

Whether the Constitution confers a right to abortion

RULING OF THE CASE:

No, the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Cases of Roe and Casey are overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.

The Constitution makes no express reference to a right to obtain an abortion, and therefore those who claim that it protects such a right must show that the right is somehow implicit in the constitutional text.

Roe, however, was remarkably loose in its treatment of the constitutional text. It held that the abortion right, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, is part of a right to privacy, which is also not mentioned.

Casey’s controlling opinion, on the other hand, skipped over that question and reaffirmed Roe solely on the basis of stare decisis.

IMPACT TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM:

This case essentially leaves the legality of abortion to individual states. Some states may choose to ban or severely restrict access to abortions, while others may continue to protect the right to choose.